Bernarda Fink expertly lures listeners into
Schubert, Dvorak art songs
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Reporter
Art songs place performers and listeners in the most intimate of musical
relationships. A story about lost love or other poetic subjects is sung to eager
recipients. We listen to every word, even in a language we might not know, and
take in every physical gesture as if they are matters of revelation and trust.
A stellar example of a singer intimate in the ways of the art song is Bernarda Fink, an Argentine
mezzo-soprano keenly attuned to subtlety, inflection and contrast. With pianist Anthony Spiri as
superb collaborator, Fink reveled in these gifts Sunday in Reinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall
during a recital of works by Schubert and Dvorak. The concert was part of the Cleveland Museum of
Art's Viva! & Gala Around Town series.
Reinberger is an ideal venue for such an artistic experience. Audience members sit close enough to the
stage to become extensions of the sonic narrative. The hall's warm, clear acoustics ensure that each
detail will be heard as if a personal conversation is taking place.
Fink knows how to draw listeners into the miniature dramas she is singing. She balances utmost
elegance with a bold sense of tension and release. Where others might exaggerate, Fink prefers to
understate, though she can generate ample heat when the emotional temperature rises.
The focus and beauty of her timbre allow Fink to penetrate the core of a song. She devoted the first
half of her concert Sunday to a diverse selection of Schubert pieces, ranging from odes to nature to
melancholic expressions of lost love.
Spiri's kaleidoscopic, shapely pianism set the atmospheres for these vibrant Schubertian encounters.
Occasionally relying on the printed music, Fink gave tender and forceful life to the multitude of lyrical
verses, including six songs set to Goethe texts.
Schubert relies upon performers to pay meticulous attention to his compact marriage of music and
words. Fink and Spiri were eloquent co-conspirators as they ventured through the affecting terrain
into which this composer poured much of his soul.
To two song cycles by Dvorak, Fink brought enormous wisdom and spontaneity. The mezzo sang
these pieces from memory, enabling her to send the Czech texts directly to all ears.
Dvorak's "Five Biblical Songs" show the composer's deep commitment to sacred sources, including a
setting of "The Lord's Prayer" infused with his special melodic freshness. His "Gypsy Songs" are dark,
impassioned and exuberant, which Fink acknowledged in performances imbued with concentrated
fervor.
The encores were folk songs, one by Dvorak and another in the language of Fink's heritage, Slovenian.
They made a disarming end to a cherishable occasion.
To reach Donald Rosenberg:
drosenberg@plaind.com, 216-999-4269
